alt:
"“In its annual survey, BJS asks crime victims whether they reported their crime to police or not. In 2019, only 40.9% of violent crimes and 32.5% of household property crimes were reported to authorities. BJS notes that there are a variety of reasons why crime might not be reported, including fear of reprisal or ‘getting the offender in trouble,’ a feeling that police ‘would not or could not do anything to help,’ or a belief that the crime is ‘a personal issue or too trivial to report.’”
That feeling that the police “would not or could not do anything to help” matched what everyone replied to me on Twitter. You can read a sampling of what they said below.
Before we get to that I want to be clear this isn’t me saying “the cops aren’t doing their jobs and therefore we need to get tougher on crime!” or anything like that. The last thing in the world I want is some guy being locked in a cage at Rikers in inhumane conditions like in the story above for stealing a car stereo or whatever. T"
